Craig Miller

Craig Miller was probably destined to be a middle distance star. After all, take away one of the consonants in his last name and you’re left with "Miler." That’s perhaps an appropriate surname for one who is making that event his own. Two years ago he set a national freshman record for the 1600m of 4:14.26, and followed that the next year with a 4:06.76 mile, second only to Alan Webb on the sophomore all-time list. In 2005, he placed second in the Nike Outdoor National meet, his 4:07.19 ranking him third in the country. Not bad for someone who only started running seriously three years ago, and whose training mileage remains modest.

"I used to play soccer, basketball and track in middle school," Craig recalls. "I realized I was naturally good at running, so I decided to do cross country as a freshman." His first harrier campaign culminated with a fifth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Class AAA championship, which was "better than I expected," he says. After a winter on the hardwood, he placed third in the state in the 1600m, setting the national frosh record in doing so.

That success didn’t prompt Craig to train like crazy over the summer to try to improve. Instead, he stuck with what worked, in his case a low-mileage base of 25 miles per week. It didn’t seem to be an impediment, as he won the state title in cross country and, after a winter spent on the swim team—"I swam competitively when I was younger, and I figured it would help my running more than basketball"—won the outdoor track state title in 4:09.33, running 2:01 for his second 800m. He capped his season with a third place in the mile at Nike Nationals. "That really boosted my confidence," he says. "It made me think I had a chance to make nationals in cross country." However, Craig admits it might have made him a little overconfident. "I didn’t run enough over the summer," he says. "I just did what I’d done the year before."

But lest you think this is the part of the story where a cocky high schooler gets his come-uppance, you’re wrong. Craig not only defended his state cross country title, but placed eighth in the Foot Locker Northeast regionals and finished 15th at the national championship. After another winter on the swim team, he picked up his track career right where he left off, winning the state 1600m title and finishing second to Jeff See at Nike Nationals.

This summer, Craig upped his training to "probably twice as much as before"—40 to 45 miles per week—with the goal of three-peating his state title, winning the Foot Locker regional, and placing in the top five at nationals. In the winter he’ll forego the pool to run, although he won’t compete in indoor track, focusing on the outdoor season where his goal is to break Paul Vandergrift’s state 1600m record of 4:03.22, set almost two decades ago.

One of Craig’s favorite workouts is a negative split 800, where he’ll run the first 400 in 70 and the second five seconds faster, doing six reps. "It gets you used to running faster when you’re tired," he says, and no doubt contributes to his finishing kick. "I think I’m pretty well balanced as a runner," he says, noting that he doesn’t have any overwhelming strengths or weaknesses. His PRs of 1:52 for 800m and 9:10 for 3200m would indicate he’s got both speed and endurance.

But then, that’s probably what you’d expect from somebody whose name is almost exactly his avocation, too.

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